Digitalizing Your Dental Practice: Is It Worth to Upgrade?

There’s no denying that we live in a technology age and are influenced heavily by all the gadgets and machines that surround us. Technology today has not just influenced the way we live, but also the way we work. No matter what field we are in, technology plays a crucial role in making our job easier, faster, better and even enjoyable. When compared to other professions, dentistry is slightly behind in adopting and integrating technologies on a widespread basis. Most dentists today are using technologies that are almost a decade old and feel apprehensive to make a switch over. In the current scenario, things are changing dynamically in dentistry as new age dentists understand the advantages of using new technologies that simplify and speed up complex dental procedures while offering accurate results. However, the question that most dentists would ask is – is it really worth to digitalize dental practice? And how digitalization impacts the dental practice?

Let’s focus on how digitalization will impact your dental practice and whether it is worth to move on to the next level of technology.

Improve Diagnosis

Dental technologies are evolving at lightning speed and we can see digitization of dental procedures that help to improve diagnosis. Correct diagnosis is an important aspect of dentistry. With the help of new age technologies dentists can communicate that diagnosis to the patient. This makes it easier for the patients to understand the implications of their oral and overall health. Digital technologies like 2D and 3D radiographs, HD intraoral cameras, oral cancer screening devices, caries detectors and digital occlusal analyzer when applied in the right way can help dentists to improve their diagnostic capability compared to traditional methods of diagnosis. New devices help dentists to enlarge images and make direct measurements which further leads to improved diagnosis.

Patient Treatment Procedures

New age dental technologies have continued to provide the right aid dentists need to ensure patients receive the best possible treatment. These technologies also make it easier for the dental professionals to do their job and handle complex procedures without any fuss. New age dental tools also allow dental professionals to complete the entire procedure in a single appointment rather than two or three appointments. Hence, digitization and technology has made it convenient for dental professionals to improve their productivity without compromising patient satisfaction. Digital RVG, CAD/CAM and lasers has made it easier for the dental professionals to handle patient treatment procedures in a better way.

Patient Management

Digitization of patient records has helped dental professionals across the globe to keep a track on their patient’s data in an efficient way. New age patient management software allow dental professionals to record all the patient information and store it without consuming space. Dental professionals also make use of cloud storage options to access their patient management data from any location. With the help of the accumulated data, professionals can track outcomes to further enhance their practice. It also allows the dentists to keep their professional data safe on cloud storage in case of any natural or man-made calamity.

Patient Education

New technologies and digitization of dentistry also provides a helping hand in terms of patient education. Most dental patients have doubts and misconceptions which give rise to fear keeping them away from going through dental procedures. Modern technologies allow dentists to make use of HD animations and websites to keep their patients informed about their dental problems and appropriate solution. It also allows the patient to access more information so that patients can take care of their health without dentists having to explain it all.

While there is a constant debate about the budget the fact is that digitization of dental practice requires certain degree of planning before you implement it. Advanced technologies are transforming the rules of modern dentistry creating new opportunities to evolve the patient experience and satisfaction level. On the other hand, it offers dental practitioners the advantage of improving their efficiency, accuracy and better predictability of outcomes.